Collins a finalist

KU junior left tackle Anthony Collins has been named one of three finalists for the Outland Trophy, given to college football’s best interior lineman.

Collins joins LSU defensive tackle Glenn Dorsey and Michigan offensive tackle Jake Long as finalists. The winner will be announced Dec. 6.

A KU edge?

Until 79,451 fans fill Arrowhead Stadium to capacity for Saturday’s battle between No. 2 Kansas and No. 3 Missouri, there will be no way of knowing for sure how many people will be there cheering for the Jayhawks.

But KU officials are guessing they have a noticeable edge – perhaps 50,000 KU fans to 30,000 Missouri supporters.

Cue the math lesson.

“Through us, we sold about 40,000 tickets,” associate athletic director Jim Marchiony said, a figure that includes 31,000 season tickets.

In addition, the season-ticket holders of the Kansas City Chiefs had the option to buy tickets for the game, and about 20,000 more were sold that way. It’s impossible to tell which team any of them are rooting for, but Marchiony said a guess of 50-50 probably wouldn’t be too far off.

Presto. A rough estimate of the support for Saturday’s 7 p.m. game.

“We think we’ll have a minimum of 50,000 fans there,” Marchiony said.

Profit sharing

With the overwhelming success of the game, Kansas and Missouri are cashing in even more than they originally thought.

The two schools each received a $1 million guarantee for moving the 2007 game to Arrowhead Stadium. But the contract also calls for profit sharing if a certain amount of tickets are sold. With the game a sellout, Kansas and Missouri both will get a little more money in the bank.

“We don’t know what that number is,” Marchiony said. “It’s probably somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter-million dollars more.”

All neutral

The 2005 Kansas-Oklahoma game at Arrowhead was treated as a KU home game, with the video board and overall presentation slanted toward the Jayhawks.

That won’t be the case for the Border War games. The game will be treated as though there is no home team both Saturday and in 2008.

Not a fan

With the move to Arrowhead, Missouri quarterback Chase Daniel will have just one memory of KU’s Memorial Stadium in his college career.

And he hated it.

“We went to Kansas my freshman year, and got beat I think 13-3,” Daniel said. “I just really didn’t like their stadium at all. I didn’t like how it was set up, I didn’t like playing there. I didn’t like playing on their home turf.

“So to get it at Arrowhead : it’s huge for us.”

Not a finalist

KU quarterback Todd Reesing was not among the three finalists for the Davey O’Brien award, given annually to the nation’s top quarterback. The list was narrowed to Daniel, Oregon’s Dennis Dixon and Florida’s Tim Tebow.

Also, KU cornerback Aqib Talib is not one of three finalists for the Thorpe Award, given to college football’s best defensive back. Those three are Arizona’s Antoine Cason, Boston College’s Jamie Silva and LSU’s Craig Steltz.

Not empty-handed

Reesing was, however, honored as the Big 12 co-offensive player of the week for his performance against Iowa State on Saturday.

Reesing split the honor with Texas Tech quarterback Graham Harrell.

Missouri injuries

MU coach Gary Pinkel said the Tigers were in good shape from an injury standpoint heading to Arrowhead.

“(Wide receiver) Will Franklin has a bruised back. : We expect him to be 100 percent,” Pinkel said. “Other than that, we’re fortunate we’re in good shape.”